If You Are New to Reef Central, Introduce Yourself Here!

[Ubernooby]

I started aquarium keeping way back in the early '90s, and as a teenager, I had piranhas and snakeheads all types of "cool" stuff. At one point, I had three aquariums running and another five tanks housing reptiles. I made a brief foray into saltwater fish in 1994 using a spare 30-gallon that was lying around, with a pair of clowns, a yellow tang and a hawkfish of some sort... it did not end well. Unfortunately, after starting grad school around that time, there simply weren't enough hours in the day anymore, so I eventually sold or gave away the animals and equipment.

Then my wife and I visited the Great Barrier Reef in 2010, mere weeks before Cyclone Yasi. It was a truly life-changing experience, and got us yearning to have our own tiny slice of that experience to enjoy every day.

Since then, I've been reading everything I can get my hands on while slowly returning to the hobby. Especially this forum.

So though this is only my first post "“ and even if I don't post very often in the future "“ I'd like to extend my sincere thanks to everyone here. This forum offers a gigantic wealth of information and wisdom, and continues to be invaluable.

Thank you so very much!

 

[Pennstatereefer]

Just my intro

Just my intro

My Dad got me into reef keeping about two years ago starting me out in a 12 gal. tank which quickly grew into a 29 gal.....Which is now a 55 gal.... I was a member of 3reef.com but I think its time for a change of enviroment. I sill consider myself as a newbie and still do a lot of research and ask a lot of questions, even dumb ones at times. LOL!

 

[DESERTCORALS]

Hey...new here started fresh 26 years ago and salt 24 years ago...my how things have changed... anyway I've got a 120 reef with 1 male lyretail anthia and his harem of 1 sub dominant male and 5 females...5 clown gobies...3 pjs...4 bangaii (1 is holding)...numerous shrimp, crabs, stars and snails...1 scopa...2 clams...several varieties of zoas...and one or more of the following acropora, pocillopora, montipora, seriatopora and porites...roughly 200lbs live rock and 150lbs of live sand...15 gallon sump with a eshopps 150 in sump skimmer (only mechanical filter in this setup)...2x 250 watt MH 14k...

 

[jahmic]

New poster, been lurking for a few months. Used to keep simple FW tanks as a kid, started breeding fish for fun in college. Just git back into it a couple years ago, and got into planted tanks. Here's my current setup:

Thinking about setting up my first SW tank, it'll be a fluval edge that I was keeping FW shrimp in for some time...then it turned into a CO2 injected planted tank...now it's just sitting empty, tempting me to try a nano-reef.

 

[boba1]

Hello my name is Bob,
Here's a little of my background.
I work retail at a feed store in the San Francisco bay area, California that sells Koi and pond supplies, I have been the "pond department" head for about 10 years now. Have had fish and reptiles since as long as I can remember, my tanks were always fresh water, I currently have a 50g planted that has been up and running for about a year. My friend (who owns an aquarium/pond maintenance company) had a customer that was getting rid of a 150g 6' long tank with all the equipment, that now has a 6-7" Lion, a Snowflake Eel, about 14", a Pearlscale Butterfly, and 2 Four Stripe Damsels (damsels were the tester/starter fish). Within a few weeks I wanted to get rid of my freshwater tank and make it into a reef, but I happened to have a 30g tall tank just sitting empty, so i filled it up and that will be my 1st reef tank. That's where I am currently.

 

[Auban]

well, im completely new to saltwater. i actually have very little interest in producing a beautiful reef aquarium. my interest lies in ecology. i have been creating freshwater tanks for years that i never feed or do water changes on. i consider a project complete when the inhabitants have bred and achieved a third generation. i want to do something similar in saltwater tanks, most likely starting with small crustaceans and various algaes. i may never achieve anything larger, but i thought the same thing when i started with freshwater pond snails 18 years ago. today im able to create tanks that can support breeding populations of various tropical fish. since reef aquariums are complex in their nature, i figured this would be the best place to gain the knowledge i need to create a similar saltwater setup. feel free to ask me any questions, as i will certainly be asking my own.

 

[saltyQban]

HELLO RC, I just set up a 40 breeder w/ 25g sump. Live rock is about 60 lbs (almost half in sump) odyssea 348w advanced plus light, 2 koralia 420gph and Rio 1700 return pump. Remora skimmer.

Stocking: blue hydnophora
Green hydno
10 different zoa colors
stylophora
Gsp
Button mat polyps
Silver pulsating Xenia
green trumpet coral
Kenya tree
Green maze brain
Green favia
peach montipora digitata

3 firefish
1 ocellaris
1 skunk cleaner shrimp
1 surge dottyback
Multiple snails/hermits 6 each

I have had the shrimp almost 6 months. Did I sign his death certificate by adding the. Dottyback yesterday?

 

[120reefermadnes]

Hey everyone just became a member and love all the available info on all kinds of different topics. I stated reef keeping about 2 years ag with a 29g bio cube then quickly jumped up to a 55 with overflow and shortly after that I got a 120 wich I still have now. Hope to keep learning from all you vets out there thanks

 

[Headrain]

Hello

Hello

Hi - we are probably a bit different as we are new to reef tanks but took over an already established tank. So we have equipment and set-ups we don't quite understand but hopefully most of the coral and fish will stay alive while we figure it out! I know there will probably be some die-off due to the trauma of moving but hopefully it will be minimal.
Here is what we have - of which I can understand enough to type about - a 70 gal with a wave machine, trickle filter, sump, ASM mini-G skimmer and a chiller. It has the lights with the purple glowy ones and the halogen ones, as well as some LED's - not sure what the timing is supposed to be for those. There are multiple corals (one is a pulsating zinnia?) as well as 3 anemones, a large clam, a crab, 2 clowns, green chromis, blue tang, flame angel, colorful blenny, cleaner wrasse. We just moved them all today and they are doing quite well for all they went through. Any suggestions are welcome!
We are familiar with fish, and already have 2 freshwater and 2 salt water tanks, but this is our first reef.

 

[NarumiHayaashi]

Hi all,

Decided to join reef central after finding the hydra project in the DIY section. One of my friends got me on saltwater. Had a few small 10 gallon freshwaters and a pond before but those are long gone. Really excited to get a 29 gallon cube going. Just got a ro/di system to fill it up with and built my own overflow using a DIY plan.

I'm really excited to get this tank up and going and I'm finally not lurking anymore

 

[nerdman]

Hey Guys, new guy here. I have a little 4gal tank. Looking foward to learning as much as i can! Thanks for the great site!

 

[TomBONAIRE]

Hello Everyone

Hello Everyone

Just want to introduce myself, my name is Tom and I live outside Buffalo, NY. I've been spending ALOT of time reading and researching (there is so much to learn) on RC this past month. I'm in the early planning stages of my first reef tank, after dabbling in freshwater a number of years back.

You've all convinced me that I must have a litttle piece of the Caribbean in my home. Looking forward to the reefing experience.

 

[myztical]

Mile High Hi

Mile High Hi

:wave:
Just thought I'd say hello. Your forums have been indispensable to me over the years. Although I have just signed up, I been lurking under cover to answer my many questions. I've had tanks for about 20 years, the bulk of that with malawi cichlids, they breed like crazy though and I had a hard time keeping up with all the babies. I had a saltwater tank that I got from a private party so it was already established and I never had to do much with it. So, I wanted to start my own tank from scratch and do more of a reef thing since the other tank I had was mostly fish and some live rock and a coral or two. I got a 28 gallon nano cube and I decided to stock it with "the package" from Tampa Bay Saltwater, whom I've had a pleasant experience with so far.

Hope one day my tank looks as beautiful as all the ones I've seen here! I'm a little intimidated to post pics after seeing the breathtaking stuff abound here.

I'll post up a review of the TBS live rock in the vendor section and link it back here if anyone wants to see pics.
:wave::wave:

 

[chefmikea]

Newbie

Newbie

Hello im mike and ive just got in the hobbybut have had some minor exposure to it from my 4 yrs of envying myformer roomates 55 gal, so ive started with a 20 gal tall with 25 lbs of agralive bed, 20 lbs of established purple and white live rock, AquaticLife Internal Mini Skimmer 115, Marineland Ml90509 -Jet 400 PRO, Marineland Visi-Therm Deluxe Submersible Heater - 75W. a regular carriage balast that came w tank that has a Coralife T8 Colormax Aquarium Lamp 18 inch, ecoxotic Panorama Pro LED Modules (blue)and 20 gal rodi h2o.....i let that cycle for about two weeks and today i dropped in frags of red zoa, green zoa, and redacted (sp?) mushroom, 25 critters--1 tiny emerald crab, 20 or so snails and hermits, and for giggles two small blue chromis, starting a diet of brine and mysis shrimp.....i think im doing ok, but im a little concerned that there has been sort of a fine "dust" swirling in there making it soewhat not as clearas it was yesterday. Im starting to wonder if my skimmer is optimal right now, or im overreacting to something that should clear up soon ....edit...one of the live rock i put in today was new coul dit be from that, nad how do i elimanate the skimmer as being potentialy running at minimal capacity...also there hasnt been a great ammount of skim or build up yet in collection cup, some, but not much. maybe not enough bio load yet?

anyway, any direction would be most welcome, sorry if this is to detailed for this spot but i truly am a begginer.

 

[myztical]

I guess I waited to long to edit my original post so here is the link to the package I got from Tampa Bay Saltwater. Lots of pics!
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2125259

 

[Maskpainter67]

Hello

Hello

Just quick note saying hello as I am new to the forum

 

[pitmalmom89]

Saltwater Starter!

Saltwater Starter!

Hi Everyone
My name is Jess I am looking to start my own salt water tank. I have a 50 gallon tank and that is pretty much it. I am looking to see if anyone has like a check list for people like me? I am building my own sump with a protein skimmer. I know I need a heater as well. I will have a refugium and quarantine tank. Im looking to purchase live sand and rock and have it shipped to me. Is there anything I am missing? I have never had a saltwater tank before only freshwater. I am super excited and can't wait to get started. Any help I get is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

[pitmalmom89]

Lighting System

Lighting System

I also need a lighting system but I am not sure what is the best affordable lighting system. I am slowly buying all the parts so cost is important but I wont be getting anyfish for a while as I want to have everything in order of course!

 

[homehobby]

Newbie

Newbie

Hello Everyone, Not sure if I am adding to this thread correctly but here it goes. I am very new to the salt water tank experience. I started my tank about 2 months again. I have a 29gal with 2 ocellaris clowns, 1 diamondback sand shifter goby (so much fun watching him re-decorate the tank), 1 firefish goby, 1 fiddler crab and my issue now is my sharknose goby. I had him for about two weeks. The first week he was swimming around and relaxing on the LR and now for this past week I can not find him. I don't want to stress my other fish by moving rocks to check. Would something in my tank have eaten him or is he really hiding. I am scheduled to do a water change this weekend so I may search more at that time. Thoughts??

 

[mmmm4life]

New comer

New comer

Hey all new to the coral tank world for myself. Brother has been doing it for yeers and has it down but I have a question for anyone able to answer. I have only had my tank up and going for about a month or so, and have extremely well cured live rock that was intrduced to my tank but have what seems to me green coralline algea growth but its very rapidly growing along with the purple. I just want to know if there is a possible bad green item that this could be. I have been useing B-Ionic chem. daily and have heard that this stuff may make the coralline algea growth be this rapid. Any input is good input. Thanks:fish2: